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June 10, 2013

10 Worst Charities in America

Report says 50 charities paid $1 billion to for-profit donation solicitors and gave little in actual aid to their causes

Little of these charities' money goes to their stated missions.

Well-run charities in the U.S. use their own staff to raise funds, and spend most of the donations on easily verifiable activities. Experts say a charity should spend less than 35 cents on the dollar for fundraising.

The underbelly of the charity game looks a lot different.

A report published last week by the Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting, based on a year-long investigation, identified some 6,000 charities that pay huge shares of their donations to for-profit companies to raise money for them.

These 501(c)(3) outfits gull donors by adopting popular causes or calling themselves names similar to those of well-known charities, according to the report. “The nation’s 50 worst charities have paid their solicitors nearly $1 billion over the past 10 years that could have gone to charitable works,” the report said.

Based on their names, 14 of the 50 charities supported law enforcers, firefighters or paramedics; 13 focused on children; 10 took up cancer as a cause; and six supported military veterans.